17 ways to get active outside

Escape into the great outdoors – the green gym – and exercise becomes more holistic, inspiring your spirit and calming your mind while toning your muscles. In one study, 72 per cent of green gym participants were still active after six months – you can't say that for many gym memberships.

1. Join a green gym
Although there are set warm-up and cool-down routines in a "green gym", there are no gym-like exercises. You get fit by helping to conserve the landscape (usually in a country park or wildlife sanctuary) – cutting back undergrowth, making paths, and building dry-stone walls, hedging or planting trees, with all the walking, carrying, and digging such tasks involve. The activities change with the seasons and as you work, you learn about biodiversity and habitat, and the history of the landscape or species you're helping to conserve. The biggest buzz is not the noticeable effects on body and mind or the close friendships forged, but the tangible results on the landscape. 

2. Country garden exercise
The grounds of many country houses or gardens feature trails suited to different levels of fitness and ability, from wheelchair tracks and one-mile beginner walks to high-energy hill climbs. Some doctors may be able to enrol you on a leisure-walking scheme that offers free entry and a guide. Walk with the seasons and savour the differences as the months roll by.

3. Seasonal fun
Plan walks that change with the seasons – find circular trails that take in spring blossom, bluebell woods, displays of autumn foliage, and early morning winter frosting.

4. Walk a barefoot trail
Outdoor barefoot walking trails are popular in Germany and China, and 2005 research showed that over their various-textured surfaces for 30 minutes three times a week for four months improved balance and blood pressure. Make a barefoot trail in your garden by laying down garden canes, gravel and pebbles, crunchy leaves and bark chippings, soft sand, cold water, and even mud. Take off your shoes and walk over each surface very slowly.

5. Country walk
At the weekend, appreciate the countryside in which your food grows by planning out a walk that takes in a farm shop or farm-gate stall. As you walk, notice how the methods of cultivation and choice of crop or livestock have moulded the look of the countryside, and point this out to children to help them make the connection between what they eat and where it grows.

6. Watch the birdie
In the spring take a walk in local woodlands or reed-beds as the sun rises to see how many birdsongs you can recognize. Dawn-chorus walks organized by experts help novices learn to identify calls, and improve fitness while they are at it.

7. No time to walk?
Walk by night, when work and housework are over and children are in bed. Is there a full-moon or women's nightwalking group in your area? Try to walk in silence, at least one way to better experience night's different sounds and textures. There is safety in numbers, so take a friend.


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Excerpted from 1,001 Ways to Get in Shape, copyright 2009 by Susannah Marriott. Used by permission of Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.